I am not the Villainess

Chapter 22

CHAPTER 22  

“Brother,” 

Tatiana wasn’t expecting Aaron to be here. However, looking around, it’s actually great that he is. 

There were a lot of knights in the training grounds than Tatiana expected. It seems that she couldn’t train with them in this open space. Especially considering that these knights don’t really have a good impression of Tatiana. 

They all still believe that Tatiana is still an evil lady. Aside from that, the knights of the Cromellos have also been a victim of Tatiana’s wickedness before. 

That said, Tatiana changed her plan and will instead train in a private training room. To do that, she has to ask for permission first from her father or to Aaron since they are the ones who own the private training rooms. 

Aaron walked closer to her and looked at her from head to toe. Tatiana is not wearing a dress right now. Instead, she’s wearing pants, a blouse, and a pair of boots.  

He looked at her confusedly and pulled her away from the knights, so they won't hear their conversation. 

“What are you doing here, Tatiana?” He asked.  

“I’m here because I’m hoping if I could start training with you…” Tatiana answered. 

“What?!” Aaron exclaimed in disbelief, causing some knights to look in their direction. 

My fragile little sister, who couldn’t even carry a plate wants to train? And all of a sudden? 

“Don’t shout, brother,” Tatiana said and shook her head. She had already expected this kind of reaction from him, but he didn’t expect he would shout. 

Tatiana, as a noble lady and the only daughter of the duke, grew up sheltered and pampered by the Duke and Duchess. She is spoiled that everything she wanted is given to her in a snap. That was also why she became the evil spoiled brat that everybody knows. 

Aside from that, Tatiana is very ladylike. She’s the type of lady who likes colorful dresses, big pieces of jewelry, embroidery, and tea parties—a typical lady of high society.  

That is why Aaron had a hard time believing that she suddenly wants to engage in physical activity such as training.  

“What do you mean, you want to join the training? Are you sick?!” Aaron continued, ignoring what she said. 

“I’m fine, brother. I'm not sick. And just like what I said, I wanted to join the training—or better yet just allow me to use the private training room!” Tatiana said and pointed towards the direction of the training room.

“Okay, hold up!” Aaron pinched the bridge of his nose. “First of all, why are you suddenly like this? You don’t like doing anything that could make you shed a sweat. You don’t even want to stay under the sun for even just a minute. So, why do you suddenly want to train when it requires you to do everything that you hated?”

Tatiana sighed. What Aaron said was true, but only to the original Tatiana. Jane, on the other hand, is the complete opposite.

In her previous life, her only escape was training with her Master. It gives her comfort and distraction from all the stress in her life. That’s why, in this life, she found it uncomfortable to have a weak body like Tatiana’s. When she first woke up as Tatiana, she was so frail that even just walking from her room to the dining room was exhausting.

If it wasn’t for Kai’s proposal for them to train together, she might still have that weak body.

“The reason is that I wanted to improve my stamina. You know that I have a very weak body, right? It’s starting to annoy me that I get sick so easily. That is why I wanted to become more fit and healthy. Isn’t that what you also wanted for me?”

“Yes, b-but…But, I didn’t mean you have to force yourself in strenuous activity such as training. You just have to make sure you take a walk for 30 minutes every day and that would have been enough.” Aaron tried to reason.

He does want Tatiana to become healthier since she got sick so easily and it worries him, however, training with him means Tatiana has to build up her stamina. It could be very intense for her and he’s worried that her body can’t take it.

“But it is not enough. I have done that for my whole life already, and the result is still the same. If I want to become fit, I need to exercise more—and by exercise, I meant to really sweat and allow my muscles to move.”

 Aaron sighed again. Tatiana is being stubborn and he knows there will be no end to this conversation if it’s like this.

Aaron thought that maybe Tatiana doesn’t understand what she has to go through in training. Maybe she thinks little of how intense it could be.

If she gets to experience it, will she give up? Wait no! What am I thinking? I can’t possibly allow her to experience intense training just so she could give up and never speak about training again!

However, contrary to what Aaron knows, Tatiana, even in her new body, is used to training already. She did train with Kai for over a year after all.

 “Brother, please don’t worry about me. I can handle it, and I know you won’t allow me to get hurt.” Tatiana smiled sweetly at Aaron in an attempt to convince him.

Aaron looked at her and in the end, gave up. He sighed and nodded, unwillingly.

“Fine. But I will look over your training myself.”

Tatiana smiled widely at his response.

She was only hoping she could use the training room for herself, but it would be even better if she will have a training partner. And to think that her brother will be her partner, she sure is lucky!

Aaron is a great knight. As the right-hand of the Crown Prince, his capabilities are exceptional.

Tatiana, on the other hand, has great skills as well. However, her knowledge is all modern techniques and she’s more inclined in martial arts. She did learn a little swordsmanship using wooden swords, but it is still different from real swords. And although Kai thought of her as well, he is not as experienced as Aaron so his knowledge was not much.

That is why Aaron is the best training partner Tatiana could hope for.

“Yes! Thank you very much, brother! I’ll do my best!”

“Don’t do your best and just take care of yourself,” Aaron said but Tatiana didn’t hear it because she was already excitedly looking at the training room. “You can go ahead do some stretching by yourself first. I’ll follow you in a moment. Here’s the key.”

Tatiana looked at him with a big grin on her face. She took the key from him and walked, almost run, towards the private training room.

Aaron just shook his head at Tatiana’s actions.

Now, it is clear as the blue sky that Tatiana had indeed changed.

To even think of training—it’s is truly unbelievable.

Aaron went back to where the knights are and relayed some instructions. He will have to train Tatiana himself but he is also the commander of the knights so he can’t leave them alone. That’s why, for the time being, the captain, Charles Young, will be in charge of training the knights.

After he gave his orders, Aaron went to the private training room. He opened the door and found Tatiana doing some stretching.

He even paused in surprise seeing Tatiana stretch so professionally. It’s like she knows what she’s doing and has done it several times.

But that’s impossible. She is too sheltered to even consider doing that.

Tatiana stood up when she felt Aaron’s presence. She looked at him and smiled excitedly.

 “Are you ready?” Aaron asked.

“Yes!” Tatiana answered. “So what do I have to do first?”

“Well, since this is your first day, I will go easy on you first. But if it happens that you feel like giving up, just give this up and never mention training again. Is that a deal?”

“Deal!”

Tatiana is confident in herself anyways. She loves moving and keeping her body active, so these kinds of things won’t get her to give up. Instead, she will be even more motivated.

“Okay. Let’s start with building your stamina first.”

Like that, Tatiana and Aaron started training together every single day.

 -

Meanwhile, the knights were on their toes ever since Tatiana started joining them. Aside from the fact that they are scared of her due to her evil reputation, the knights were also wary of Tatiana’s sudden training.

When they first found out about it, the knights had a hard time believing it. They knew Tatiana as someone who wouldn’t allow even a speck of dust on her dress. She’s a type of person who is so frail that couldn’t even carry a stick. Aside from that, Tatiana is a woman.

In this world, discrimination against women is very common. Women were labeled as weak and incapable that they are expected only to be a housewife whose job is to only take care of the house and the children. Although few women have proven themselves here and there, they are still being looked down upon due to strong stereotypes and prejudice against women. 

As such, the knights were all thinking of the same thing: Why would a woman like her engage in physical activities like intense training?

Although they are not completely aware of what her training under the Young Lord Aaron looks like, they do know that Young Lord Aaron wasn’t going easy on her and that her exercises were advanced and intense for a lady like her.

As such, they made a bet that Tatiana won’t last long. They believe that Tatiana wasn’t serious about it and was just playing around, being a spoiled brat again. They also thought that the reason why the Young Lord was being intense on her was so she would give up on her nonsense immediately.

However, contrary to what they’ve expected, Tatiana has been attending her training continuously and consistently.

Every time Tatiana arrives at the training ground, they would all stop and observe her every move. She would just greet them a bit and would go directly to the private training room. What's more, is that she never showed hesitation that she even looked excited.

The knights were starting to have a change of thoughts about Tatiana.

Could it be that the lady had changed?

The fact that Tatiana never missed a day of greeting them before she enters the training room is an unusual behavior itself. There were also a lot of rumors going around Cromello’s Residence about Tatiana acting differently. So what if the rumors were true!?

 -

While the knights were talking about Tatiana with each other during their break time, a man was just standing at the side, listening to them.

That man is the captain of the knights and Tatiana’s personal knight, Sir Charles Young.

2 years ago, before the war happened, Sir Charles had an accident. A group of bandits attacked him while he was doing his rounds around the capital. He was alone at that time, and even though he was able to kill all of his attackers, he was greatly wounded that he almost died due to loss of blood. Good thing, a roaming knight was able to find him and took him to a doctor.

His life was saved but he was in a coma for 3 three months. Because of that, he wasn’t able to fight in the war.

Even after he woke up from a coma, Aaron and Noah didn’t allow him to join because he was still recovering.

As a knight and as the captain, it was a great shame that he wasn’t able to fight in the war just because of a small accident with a group of bandits. His pride was crashed and for a long time, he only blamed himself for his weakness and became depressed.

The duke noticed it and decided to appoint him as Tatiana’s personal knight temporarily so that he wouldn’t lose himself and his morals.

Sir Charles accepted the position. His job was not difficult, but it did help him come back to his old self.

Although Tatiana had a bad personality, for him, she was just a child who was raised differently. He doesn’t tolerate her actions, but he also understands that Tatiana just didn’t know what she was doing. Her parents never scold her for her wrongdoings, so it is given that she wouldn’t know her faults.

Anyhow, Sir Charles found himself being attached to Tatiana.  

However, Tatiana suddenly got sick and fell into a coma. Sir Charles was so worried that he started blaming himself again since Tatiana got sick under his protection. It was even to the point that he was considering resignation.

But then, Tatiana woke up and started acting differently. He was happy of course, but her changes also worries him.

It was like Tatiana became a completely different person. Her actions, her personality, and even her habits have changed all of a sudden.

And now, she even started training—something that the old Tatiana would never do.

Just what happened to you, my Lady? Did you just really change or is there something else?

Sir Charles thought as he stared at Tatiana who’s laughing beside Aaron, from afar.

---

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